Carolina Braces for Florence Storm Surge
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Hurricane Florence has weakened but will still be devastating

In all, an estimated 10 million people live in areas expected to be placed under a hurricane or storm advisory, according to the U.S. Weather Prediction Center.

Wilmington, North Carolina, was hit Friday morning by a 105 miles per hour wind gust, the strongest wind in the city since 1958.

This is a developing story.

The utility also said Thursday it is shutting down a coastal North Carolina nuclear power plant ahead of Hurricane Florence.

After all that, what is left of Florence will turn north towards Rochester.

But the storm still carried "very unsafe winds", the Center added.

"Those outer bands are just as destructive as areas that come close to the walls, so it's going to be a very long overnight for a lot of people between Virginia all the way down to Georgia", Dresner said.

In April, The State newspaper in Columbia reported that an Army investigation had faulted Fort Jackson officials' handling of a 2015 storm that caused an 80-year-old earthen dam to crumble and release 100 million gallons of water.

Tornadoes are possible in eastern North Carolina through Friday.

The Miami-based center had said earlier Friday Florence's arrival would come with "catastrophic" fresh water flooding over portions of the Carolinas.

The National Weather Service warned that people should have their hurricane preparations in place Thursday before the storm moves in toward land overnight.

One video, below shows the effect from a potential storm surge which could rise up to 9 feet in some areas.

Benjamin Brown is a reporter for Fox News.

"Right now, most of the properties we have there in North and SC are sold out", said a spokesman for InterContinental Hotels Group, which owns the Holiday Inn franchise. Emerald Isle is about 84 miles (135 kilometers) north of Wilmington.

"On the forecast track, the center of Florence is expected to move inland across extreme southeastern North Carolina and extreme eastern SC today and Saturday".

"3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico", Trump said on Twitter.

Gov. Roy Cooper requested additional federal disaster assistance in anticipation of what his office called "historic major damage" across the state. WTOP's Steve Dresner, who is in Morehead City, North Carolina, described the scene just after 10 p.m. Thursday: "I'm looking out a fourth floor balcony back to the center of Morehead City, and the lights are out".

Coastal streets were inundated with ocean water, causing damage to dozens of homes and businesses, officials said. Its surge could cover all but a sliver of the Carolina coast under as much as 11 feet of ocean water, and days of downpours could unload more than 3 feet of rain, touching off severe flooding.